What Made It: Frames Like Paintings
In the Garmin spots Roadie and Gravel, Director of Photography Jeremy Snell makes beautiful frames, the kind that look like they were part of a fine art abstract paintings series. Here’s a look at what made these commercial spots.
First, it’s worth pointing out that this spot includes the traditional commercial shots: gorgeously lit frames of the cyclist in a physical place. Since this commercial was shot exclusively outside, it was important that the crew took the time of day into consideration when filming.
But the main thing that made this commercial stand out for me was the use of color and textural elements of the place (winding, cliffside road) and activity (cyclist) disembodied from the full action that would make sense to our brain.
In the following example, we see three different elements of riding a bike up a hill, but only the third (and last) image gives us what we conventionally associate with that thing. By using shadows, composition, and motion in an unconventional way, we get the delight of seeing something old as something new.
More than this collection of images that surrounds an idea, there is also simply a beauty in the color and texture of this video. Take a look at the following stills:
In this sequence we move from the road to a tunnel; beautiful blurred images are held together by the glue of incredibly-recorded bike-motion sound effects. By showing each of these compositions for just a few frames each, we get to experience the beauty of the images without lingering on them for too long. This frenzied transition is also used to cut between different angles of the biker:
This change in view doesn’t really make sense, but our brain fills in the gaps when it’s played at regular speed. Finally, these two spots take advantage of perspective shifts using camera motion that keep us on the edge of our toes until the very end:
Is it the epic shooting style? The sound effects? The ingenious story build? Each week, I deconstruct a favorite video of mine and explain What Made It. I’m Mia and I’m a freelance videographer. I make videos under Missing In Action Productions and I love to talk about, collaborate on, and make films.
